1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a radio communications device capable of supporting at least two communications lines wherein messages may be left with the network for both lines and the messages may be retrieved at a time selected by the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile phones a re be coming more commonly used for both personal and business use. Increasingly, individuals are possessing more than one mobile phone to accommodate their requirements, for example, a phone supplied for work and a phone for personal use.
Alternate line service is a feature where the SIM (Subscriber Identify Module) card has two associated mobile station integrated services digital network (MSISDN) numbers. This allows a user to direct two MSISDN numbers, i.e. two lines, into one RCD (Radio Communications Device) to avoid carrying more than one device. At any time, the user can select from which line the user wishes to call and will receive an individual bill for each line. The user may set a default line for outgoing calls which the user may change as desired.
Messages of the voicemail variety may be received by modern radio communication devices. When a voicemail is left for an ASL (Active Line State) system supporting two lines, ‘line 1’ and ‘line 1’ the network sends a message to the mobile phone informing that there is a voicemail waiting retrieval. Typically, the user is advised of the new voicemail by a prompt on the display screen indicating that a new voicemail has been received and the line for which the voicemail is left. The user can subsequently choose to retrieve the voicemail. After retrieving the voicemail, the associated prompt on the display screen of the radio communication device is removed.
If a second voicemail is received for the same line before the previous voicemail has been retrieved, the network does not send a further message to the phone and the prompt on the display screen is not updated.
However, if a second voicemail is left for a different line from the first, the network sends a further message to the mobile and the prompt is updated to indicate only the details of the second voicemail. After retrieving the second voicemail, the prompt associated with the second voicemail is typically replaced by a prompt advising the receipt of the first voicemail for the other line. In this case, the user will only be informed that he has a previously received voicemail for a different line after he has retrieved the second voicemail.
This situation could be problematic if the user has received an important voicemail for ‘line 1’ but soon after receipt a further voicemail was received for ‘line 2’. In this case, the prompt advising receipt of the voicemail for ‘line 1’ would be overwritten and therefore the user would be unaware of the important voicemail for ‘line 1’ until he has retrieved the voicemail for ‘line 2’.